10 things I saw from Raptors-Hornets | Getting Benched
Don’t let the final score deceive you. The win was never in doubt as the Raptors led for the final 45 minutes of the game. The pesky Hornets never go away without a fight, and they’ve been a perpetual thorn in the Raptors’ side, but you have to walk out of that game feeling confident about facing Charlotte in a potential playoff series.
Raptors hang on late to beat Batum-less Hornets 96-90 | Raptors HQ
Another encouraging development: Lowry’s shot fell on Tuesday night, especially in the fourth quarter. On the night he put up 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting to go along with six assists and four boards. A dozen of those points came during a crucial stretch of the fourth where the Hornets cut into the Raptors one-time 16-point lead and made the game seem a lot closer than it actually was. Yes, it would be nice if Lowry hadn’t been forced into another 40-minute outing by the Raptors inability to sustain it’s wide advantage, but there are mercifully some games against utterly horrible opponents lurking between now and season’s end where Lowry can catch his breath.
Soon the urge to fret over minutes totals and rest will dissipate. We’re now just five games away from the playoffs. And if tonight’s slog against Charlotte is any indication of what the rest of this season’s largely meaningless games are going to look like, April 16th can’t come soon enough.
Valanciunas’ growth on defence evident against Hornets | Sportsnet.ca
In all, Valanciunas and Biyombo held Jefferson and Zeller to a combined 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and outrebounded the Hornets duo 19-17. And if you take away Zeller’s fourth quarter—when he scored six of his nine points as the Raptors defence slipped for the first time on the night and allowed the Hornets to claw their way back into the game—the work the Raptors’ frontcourt did looks even more impressive.
“They’re a good challenge. Because Jefferson is great on the low post, so we’ve got to take his pump fakes away, and limit his penetration towards the basket,” Valanciunas said. “And Zeller is just so active. He’s everywhere. He’s going to the boards, he can shoot. They’re such different players, so it’s a big job.”
Raptors win easy over Hornets at ACC | Toronto Sun
For most of the night, the Hornets were in retreat mode, trying to cut into a double-digit Raptors lead, but early in the final period it was reduced to single digits, manageable and doable given how explosive Charlotte can be when it is engaged and locked in.
Game Rap: Raptors 96, Hornets 90 | Toronto Raptors
FOURTH-QUARTER CLOSEOUT
Toronto went into the fourth leading by 16, but the Hornets opened the quarter with a 7-0 run to get within single digits. With Charlotte threatening a comeback, Kyle Lowry got to work. Lowry, who had scored nine points through the first three quarters of the game, scored 12 of Toronto’s 21 points in the quarter to help the Raptors keep the distance.
Hornets Tripped Up in Toronto | Charlotte Hornets
Turning Points
Toronto started off the game by knocking down 12-of-24 attempts from the field (50.0 percent) while limiting Charlotte to just 6-of-19 shooting (31.6 percent), resulting in a 26-16 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Raptors would then slowly build the deficit over the next two quarters, eventually going up, 75-59, over the Hornets by the start of the fourth. Despite trailing by as many as 19 in the second half, the Hornets managed to trim the deficit down to as little as four with 23 seconds remaining in the game but simply ran out of time as they lost their third-consecutive road contest in Toronto.
Charlotte Hornets frozen against Toronto Raptors lose 96-90 | At The Hive
Beyond simply saying that defense (and offense) missed Batum, the traditional starters weren’t firing at all. Kemba started the game without any makes on seven shots and just one point in his first 24 minutes on the court. Courtney Lee and Marvin Williams both started two for six while Zeller only had one make himself. By the time it reached late third quarter, the Raptors had put the hurt on the Hornets. DeRozan was putting on a clinic and Kemba’s stat line looked more like Charles Barkley after the Monstars stole his talent in Space Jam than the Kemba that Charlotte knows and loves.
The Charlotte Hornets Lose a Big Game to the Raptors | Swarm and Sting
The Hornets trailed for most of the night as they struggled on both ends of the court. They made a late run towards the end of the game and cut the Raptors lead to just four with under a minute left. The run was a little too late as they ran out of time and Toronto sealed the win.
Toronto Raptors win season series against Charlotte Hornets | Raptors Cage
Offence: A-
The Raptors played a team game from beginning to end, with five players finishing in double-digits. They built an early, finishing the first quarter up 26-16. They would carry that momentum for the majority of the game, holding the lead till the final buzzer.
DeRozan started the first half strong, by scoring the first 17 of his eventual 26 points that night. Lowry also scored 21 points against the Hornets, while finding ways to get his teammates involved with 6 assists. Including this dish to Jonas Valanciunas.
Raptors 96 – Charlotte Hornets 90: too close | Raptors Rapture
he San Antonio game was a good loss; this was a bad win. The Raptors didn’t get anything approaching balanced scoring, as DeRozan and Lowry provided 47 points. That math won’t work in the post-season. Jonas Valanciunas didn’t get sufficient touches on offense, but still provided a double-double of 12 twice, with 3 blocks.
TRoss also didn’t get many chances, taking only 2 shots in 20+ minutes. Norman Powell’s 6-game run of scoring in double figures ended, as his outside touch evaporated. So did Biyombo’s touch from the charity stripe. He managed one of six.
Charlotte turned the ball over 6 times, which is good on them but bad on our team. More ball pressure needed!
Raptors tie franchise record for home wins with victory over Hornets | The Globe and Mail
t was a solid victory for the Raptors, who set the pace early and led by as many as 19 points before taking a 16-point lead into the fourth quarter. The Hornets chipped away at Toronto’s lead late in the fourth quarter, and when Marvin Williams drilled a three-pointer with 1:09 to play, it pulled the Raptors to within six.
DeRozan responded with a driving hook shot with 40 seconds left, but Kemba Walker shot back with five straight points to pull the Hornets to within four. A pair of Joseph free throws sealed Toronto’s victory.
All-stars DeRozan and Lowry were back in the lineup after sitting out Saturday’s 102-95 loss in San Antonio to rest.
The capacity crowd of 19,800 at the Air Canada Centre — that included Blue Jays legend and baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar — was the 76th straight sellout, a stretch that goes back to November of 2014.
Raptors not looking at potential playoff match-ups | TSN
“I said the same thing I’m saying now and I learned a long time ago, you take what the standings give you and you better be ready for them,” Casey reiterated ahead of Tuesday’s game. “I think the basketball gods will get you every time if you start trying to mess with the game. You’ve got to take what the standings give you. You’ve got to look at it, but you can’t sit here and say, ‘I want to play them, I’d much rather play them, we match-up better.’ No, because you’ll get what you asked for. You’ve got to prepare for them, but then again, you’ve got to take what the standings give you.”
Match-up aside, there’s a conceivable scenario in which they could lose to just about anyone, same as they could beat just about anyone, depending on which version of the Raptors show up, and that should have been the biggest takeaway from last spring’s post-season disaster.
They’ll tell you that remains their primary focus over these last few games, ensuring they’re at their best and at their healthiest for Game 1, as it should be. In that regard, their tough late-season schedule has actually been beneficial. Casey, his coaching staff and their players deserve credit for picking their spots in maximizing opportunities for rest, while also testing themselves against some of the league’s most physical opponents.“It gives us a sense of physicality of how the game’s going to be played [in the post-season] and so far, I like the way we’ve responded,” Casey said. “What you don’t want is two weeks of guys totally being out, being off and now you have to ramp it up to 100 per cent once the playoffs start. Because I just don’t think you can turn it off completely and turn it on completely, it’s just hard to do.”
Raptors making it tough to remain under the radar | Sportsnet.ca
When the NBA announces its playoff schedule you can bank on Toronto and whoever it plays being relegated to the first game of the post-season Saturday afternoon, airing before anyone who is not a Raptors fan has figured out the playoffs have started.
They might end up playing Detroit or Indiana or even the Charlotte Hornets, who the Raptors handled 96-90 at Air Canada Centre Tuesday night, a game made closer when Charlotte finished on a 16-6 run in the game’s final 3:32.
But it won’t matter who they play, really — the Raptors will be in the early playoff game, far from prime time.
Oh, and no one is happier about this than Casey. There is not a coach alive who relishes the role as favourite, of being the hot pick. Casey abhors it more than most.
Are the Raptors being overlooked a little bit given what they’ve accomplished this season so far?
“I hope so,” said Casey. “If you go to Vegas I don’t think anybody is going to have us favoured to win the East or how far they have us going, I don’t know. We’re going in as underdogs.”
Kelly: Toronto Raptors better not tempt the basketball gods | The Globe and Mail
The last 10 days of the season will be an odd time for the Raptors. They are locked into second place in the Eastern Conference. It’s conceivable that they will overtake Cleveland for first, but not likely.
They have nothing to play for, but plenty to lose if things end up going wrong. There’s a lot going on here that can be used to beat them up retrospectively.
Local hoops Kremlinologists will be attentive to any signs of a letdown (like last year), overconfidence (like last year) or significant hidden injuries (like last year). If those can be found, woe betides this roster. They can’t fold twice and continue to exist as currently constituted.
There’s also the question of how to comport themselves in these final games.
On Thursday and Friday, they’ll travel to Atlanta and then back home for Indiana. The Pacers are one of two likely first-round opponents. The other is Detroit.
Should the Raptors rest their starters Friday and goose Indiana’s chances of finishing seventh? Maybe. If you apply a position-by-position, strength-versus-strength comparison, Toronto shapes up better against the Pacers than the Pistons. But only just.
When that idea was put to Casey, he recoiled.
“The basketball gods will get you every time if you start trying to mess with the game. You’ve got to take whatever the standings give you,” Casey said. “You can’t sit here and say, ‘I’d much rather play them. We match up better.’ Nah, because you’ll get what you asked for.”
Rest isn’t always best in the NBA | Toronto Sun
“So much of this game is having your rhythm,” Clifford said. “You don’t do that this time of year. (Players) are used to playing three or four nights a week so I’m glad that we are playing for something because it gives you the best chance to be playing well going into the playoffs. “
Clifford, like Casey, is old school. He sees more harm than good in resting players down the stretch.
“There’s so much that gets said about guys being tired or this or that,” he said prior to Tuesday’s Hornets/Raptors game. “Listen, 10 or 12 years ago guys never sat out. They didn’t and if you want to know the truth teams practised a lot harder back then. They practised longer and there were less limitations on what we could do.”
Clifford says the only team that should be resting players is a team with an aging roster and even then only if they are able to do so without compromising their rhythm.
And the only team that has been able to do that successfully in his opinion is the San Antonio Spurs.
“What San Antonio does is good but I think the difference to me from what they do compared to other teams is they have a whole plan for the season. They are not just sitting guys the last two weeks. That’s what I’m talking about with rhythm. And they have always done it that way. They will sit guys in December. They have a seasonal master plan where these guys are playing.”
Report: Knicks could have interest in Masai Ujiri | Raptors Republic
Look, maybe there’s something here, because money talks and it’s a marquee franchise and all, but I don’t think there’s much to worry about here from a Raptors perspective. Of course a bad team is interested in a well-regarded executive from a rival club, one in their division, no less. There’s absolutely nothing in the report to suggest the interest is mutual, and there’s never been any indication Ujiri is anything but happy in Toronto. This is much, much more a Knicks story than a Raptors one.
But we have to pass these things along.
Report: Knicks may want Masai Ujiri as general manager | Raptors Cage
There is a lot of moving pieces required here to make this work. The Knicks aren’t exactly an appealing franchise to take over right now in comparison to the Toronto Raptors, Masai built this team. And he’s also got 2 years left on his contract. It also doesn’t seem likely that Jackson leaves, but hey, it’s the Knicks. Regardless, if I’m a Raptors fan, I wouldn’t worry about this too much right now.
Knicks Interested In Masai Ujiri If Phil Jackson Leaves | RealGM Wiretap
If Dolan makes a change at the top of the Knicks’ organization, Masai Ujiri is believed to be a potential successor. Ujiri worked on the Carmelo Anthony trade when he worked for the Denver Nuggets and communicated directly with Dolan.
DeMarre Carroll nearing return for Raptors, and just in time for playoffs | CBSSports.com
If Carroll is able to play in Toronto’s last remaining regular-season games and be physically ready by the start of the playoffs, that would be a huge addition to the Raptors. Carroll is an excellent perimeter defender that can lock down an opponent’s top scorer, a very helpful asset in a playoff series. He is also a solid offensive player, capable of knocking down 3s and was averaging 11.7 points and 4.8 rebounds before his injury.
But as Ganter points out, there is still no timetable for Carroll’s return and the Raptors are just being hopeful about him coming back before the start of the playoffs. It is a promising sign that he has been practicing, though. Especially since a possible regular-season return by Carroll could give the Raptors some momentum as they head into the postseason as the No. 2 seed in the East.
Quick Stat Hits: If you didn’t know about Bismack Biyombo, now you know | Raptors HQ
Biyombo is pretty good defensively. And it’s pretty noticeable when he’s out there, covering up for mistakes made by others.
He’s played over 100 minutes with nine different teammates this season. With four of them, the team has a sub-100 defensive rating (DRTG) while they are on the court. That’s pretty incredible. It should come as no surprise that the four teammates are his fellows from the Lowry plus bench lineup, which on the season has a 93.1 DRTG.
And while it’s true that Cory Joseph and Patrick Patterson have a lot to do with that, and they are doing it against bench units, that’s still an amazing defensive efficiency. And the same lineup with Jonas Valanciunas is just as good overall, but definitely takes a step back defensively (100.6 DRTG, still very good but not elite like the Biyombo lineup).
Good news, guys, there’s still plenty of room on the Toronto Raptors bandwagon | National Post
Even as the birth of the Raptors and the Vince Carter era sparked a basketball boom in this part of the country that produced a boatload of NBA stars, the team flushed a lot of goodwill in the years during which the rest of the country might have gotten on board. Over 11 seasons after Carter’s bitter split from the team, the Raptors had exactly one in which they won more games than they lost. They lost good players (Tracy McGrady, Chris Bosh), they drafted bad players (Rafael Arujo, Andrea Bargnani) and they generally made a complete hash of things. The Raptors essentially gave the rest of the country every reason to not fall in love with them. But the same thing could be said of the previous two decades of the Toronto Blue Jays, and then all of a sudden the team gets hot in August and the country is nuts for baseball and millions are watching on TV and the Prime Minister from Montreal is wearing a Jays cap on Opening Day.
They are worth a good look, this team. The all-stars, DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, should on their own be able to carry the Raptors on some kind of playoff run. It’s different now, honest.
Unless it isn’t. But even still, a spring playoff run that begins with great hope and ends in tragedy and sadness? At least the rest of Canada would be able to relate.
Did Pop tell Dwane Casey he thinks Toronto will make the Finals? | Ball Don’t Lie
The second-round pick out of UCLA, whom the Raptors picked up in the trade that sent Greivis Vasquez to the Milwaukee Bucks, has slid into the starting lineup over the last month and provided an injection of defensive aggressiveness, open-court athleticism and shooting, averaging 9.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 combined blocks/steals in 24.4 minutes per game over the last 14 games, while shooting 44.7 percent from 3-point land. The Raps are outscoring opponents by 4.7 points per 100 possessions with Powell on the floor since his elevation into the starting lineup, and have found success (albeit in a comparatively small sample of minutes) with him playing as an undersized but dogged small forward between the Lowry-DeRozan backcourt and front lines featuring some combination of Biyombo, Jonas Valanciunas and midseason acquisition Jason Thompson.
Raptors’ Parent Company Reportedly Projects Price for Jersey Advertisements | Bleacher Report
The target price for advertisement space on the Toronto Raptors’ jerseys is reportedly between $4 million and $5 million, according to estimates by executives from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the team’s parent company.
TSN’s Rich Westhead reported the news Tuesday, adding that the NBA Board of Governors is “expected” to vote later in April on whether to feature ads on jerseys for the 2017-18 season.
Per Westhead, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment has been giving sales pitches to corporations in Canada for two-and-a-half-inch-diameter logos to display on jerseys but is concerned that smaller-market NBA teams may undercut the $5 million figure as they attempt to secure their own jersey sponsorships.
NBA owners to discuss league proposal to put advertisements on jerseys | ESPN
Under the league proposal, which must be approved by the Board of Governors in April to come to fruition, teams will be able to sell one corporate logo on their uniforms for the 2017-18 season. That would give teams a year to sell, and it would line up with the league’s new apparel deal with Nike.
In order to address the disparity in market size and the value larger cities would have compared to smaller cities, the league is proposing that 50 percent of the money from uniform ad deals would be kept by teams, while the other 50 percent would go into a revenue-sharing pot.
Deals would be restricted to three years, much like the sideline floor sponsorship deals the league approved in 2013.
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